Field of the Invention
One disclosed aspect of the embodiments relates to an image forming system for forming an image on a sheet. The image forming system includes an image forming apparatus for forming an image on a sheet, and an image processing apparatus capable of communicating with the image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus is used as, for example, a copying machine, a printer, a fax, and a multifunction peripheral having a plurality of functions of these apparatuses.
Description of the Related Art
With the spread of a network environment in recent years, generally, an image forming system using an image forming apparatus such as a printer manages print data in a server (an image processing apparatus). Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-257799 discusses an image forming system where a server acquires print data from a personal computer (PC) and transmits the print data to a printer. The server discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-257799 can perform either one of the process of, according to a transmission request from the printer, rendering the entirety of page description language (PDL) data and then transmitting image data, and the process of transmitting original PDL data without rendering the original PDL data.
As described above, the server discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-257799 is configured to perform either one of the process of rendering PDL data and then transmitting image data, and the process of transmitting original PDL data. Thus, the server has the following problem. It is not possible to both improve the performance of the printer and reduce a data size. The cause of the problem is specifically described below.
Normally, in a case where image data is generated based on PDL data, the data size of the image data is larger than the data size of the PDL data based on which the image data is generated. If so, an adverse effect may result from the strained storage capacity of the server or the reduced transfer speed to the printer. If, on the other hand, the server discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-257799 transmits PDL data to the printer as it is, the printer needs to analyze the PDL data by itself. Thus, an adverse effect may result from the decreased speed of printing due to the time spent to analyze the PDL data. Accordingly, in either case, the performance of the printer suffers.